Martin Luther King Jr. Online

Martin Luther King Pictures

Public domain photos of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

While most photos of Martin Luther King are copyrighted by their photographer, and the The Estate of Martin Luther King Jr., Inc. claims to own his image/likeness, all the pictures on this page have been placed in the public domain.

Please do your own due diligence to research and understand the limits of copyright, fair use, and public domain. It is my personal understanding that public domain photos can at least be used by teachers and students and students who want pictures of Martin Luther King for reports, documents, worksheets and school websites. However, I cannot give anyone permission to use them in any way as I am not the copyright owner, nor am I an attorney. Please see the copyright page at the bottom for further information and to make any copyright requests from the The Estate of Martin Luther King Jr., Inc.

Photo sources identified below as available. Those with ARC Identifiers are from the National Archives.

I Have a Dream Pictures

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivering his I Have a Dream Speech at the Civil Rights March on Washington, D.C.
08/28/1963
ARC Identifier 542069 / Local Identifier 306-SSM-4D(107)16

Pictures from Martin Luther King's Life

The rest of this post’s photographs are from the George F. Landegger Alabama Library of Congress Collection. Photographer Carol Highsmith spent much of 2010 traveling over 20,000 miles through the state documenting early 21st century Alabama in over 3900 images available at the Library of Congress.

Credit line for each image should read: The George F. Landegger Collection of Alabama Photographs in Carol M. Highsmith’s America, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.

The Dexter Parsonage Museum, historic home to twelve pastors of the Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church from 1920-1992, was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. Martin Luther King lived in the home from 1954 to 1960.

Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church. Founded in 1877, the current red-brick building was constructed between 1883 and 1889 and is a national historic landmark. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was the pastor from 1954-1960, and began his quest for civil rights here.